“They brought a superhero here to give shots?”
Harry had protested when Tony bought him a phone, but he had to admit that texting Sirius was the funniest thing he’d ever done.
Sirius had called him the day before, apparently he really did get his letter delivered after a single night, and they had a brief conversation—
“How are things?”
“Fine. How are things there?”
“Terrific. You’re officially missing. There are search parties for you. I hexed Snape. Ron and Hermione are plotting ways to sneak out to try and find you. Hedwig misses you. Now give me something more than fine.”
“I broke his telly and he wasn’t pissed.”
“Why’d you break it?”
“It was an accident.”
“Sure.”
“It was. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, kiddo. You having fun at all?”
“No, can you send me money, please? If you can’t get it from my vault, I’ll pay you back.”
“Oh- hey, Molly’s coming, I gotta go. Love you, kiddo.”
Harry didn’t save his number, in case someone snooped through his phone, but he did text it.
This is called a text. Can you please send me money?
Then he got back a string of little images that made him grin as they were mostly dog ones with an odd heart tossed in the mix here and there.
Every morning since the ‘Telly Incident’, as Harry began referring to that day, Harry had sent Sirius a text, reminding him that he was alive, he didn’t forget about him, and to please send him money. And every morning Harry had gotten a random emoji or two back in return.
That morning it had been a boat and a spider.
The rest of his new routine was much less amusing. Harry usually got a shower, put on one of the many, many, sets of clothes that now filled his closet, and left his room only to have meals with Tony. It was awkward, almost painfully so, forcing himself to leave his quiet sanctuary and show up in the kitchen for whatever takeout Tony decided on, but Tony insisted and Harry wasn’t a complete moron. There was only so much pushback Harry could give before the man eventually snapped and Harry was determined to be gone before they reached that point. And if Harry was quiet and uneasy during their shared meals, then Tony seemed determined to ‘get to know each other’. So the last couple of days had been filled with Tony telling Harry about himself.
He talked about the schools he’d been to, the places he’d traveled, places he wanted to travel, his ‘teammates’, his inventions, and a little about his company. Harry listened without looking like he was listening and kept silent when Tony tried to ask Harry questions. So Harry expected they’d still be doing that when he got dressed and left his room to have breakfast.
Except it seemed like that routine was broken that morning…
“Morning, kid.” Tony was sitting on the kitchen counter, a pile of round donuts stacked on a plate on his lap, and smiled at Harry when he came out of his room. He waved a hand at the three men sitting at the counter, “You remember these lovely gentlemen, I’m sure.”
Harry did. He specifically remembered that the one named Clint, the actual trained killer, hadn’t seemed to like Harry much. Not that Harry tried to make him like him, since he wasn’t planning on sticking around, but a wandless teenage wizard versus an assassin wasn’t exactly good odds either.
“Morning,” Bruce, the one turned into a giant green ‘Hulk’ in the documentary they watched, said kindly. He hardly looked the part of a Hulk when he sat there with his wire-rimmed glasses and button up shirt. He looked like a normal bloke, a bit boring and a bit like a swot, but Harry had seen a much more docile looking man transform into a werewolf and nearly kill him before, so he didn’t judge books by their covers.
Bruce pushed the stack of pink boxes in front of him toward the opposite side of the counter. “Help yourself, Harry. If you like sprinkles though, you better get them before Steve does.”
Harry glanced toward Steve, the red and blue suit guy who was apparently quite a bit older than he looked, and saw that he had a towering pile of donuts with chocolate icing and yellow sprinkles on them.
“I don’t,” Harry said. He hesitated a safe distance away from the counter, debating on just turning around and staying in his room all day. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t entertain himself- cell phones were wicked cool and Harry wished all his friends had one. Not that he counted himself as someone with many friends, especially since Sirius’ letters had been blocked, but Ron and Hermione’s letters were nonexistent, but still… texting the twins would be fun.
His debate ended though when Tony hopped off the counter, grabbed an empty bar stool, moved it to the other side of the bar, and then sat right back down on the counter and resumed eating his breakfast. Harry assumed that was a pretty damn pointed command and sat on the edge of his seat.
“Everyone likes sprinkles,” Tony told Harry around a mouthful of the unsprinkled donut he was eating. “There’s a few raspberry filled ones in that bottom box, figured you’d like them.” He gave an exaggerated look of exasperation to Clint, “Harry’s favorite ice cream isn’t even brownie batter, absolute insanity, right?”
Clint grinned at Harry and leaned back in his seat. “So what you’re saying is that we can safely store chocolate around you?”
“I don’t think I said anything,” Harry pointed out. He slowly snagged the bottom box and opened it to find half a dozen identical donuts in there. He grabbed one and took a test bite and immediately decided that it was probably made with magic. He had taken a third bite before he realized that he was being stared at by the four guys and he immediately put the food down.
“Success!” Tony cried. “I knew you’d like them!”
Harry did like it, actually, then he felt his stomach knot as he realized that the three blokes across from him were still staring at him with weirdly intense faces. “Can I help you?” he asked them coolly.
“Actually, yes,” Steve said as the other two quickly looked back at their plates. “Do you have any plans today, Harry?”
Harry nodded.
“What?” Tony furrowed his brows. “Obviously you’re not a prisoner and you can make plans or whatever, but what’s on your agenda, kid?”
“Anything that doesn’t involve whatever he wants,” Harry told Tony seriously. “I’m thinking I could jump out that window, give free falling a real shot, and it would still be a much more important task.”
Tony smiled at him, thrilled as always with Harry’s poor attitude and hateful quips, but this time Clint, the same one who told him to shut up last time they met, also chuckled.
“You wouldn’t hit the ground, you’d just hit the tech net around the building and be sore as hell.”
“Interesting theory, I’ll remember that during my incredibly important test today.”
Harry had kept his muscles tensed, ready to move, but apparently he was funny today instead of ‘a dick’.
“Well if you’d rather hang out with an old man,” Steve gave Harry a self-deprecating smile, “I’ve got an event that would be much more tolerable with decent company.”
“Perhaps you should find some then,” Harry said, wondering why anyone thought he would be decent company. He took another bite of his donut and raised a brow when Steve just continued to smile at him.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Tony said brightly, immediately snapping Harry’s eyes to the traitor. “I’ve got to get some work done before Pepper gets home tomorrow and tears me a new one, and not in the fun way either.”
“There’s a fun way?” Harry asked, hiding his genuine curiosity behind sarcasm. He hadn’t meant to ask, but spending time around the man recently must have loosened his tongue.
Tony perked up and swung a donut around. “Oh, kid, trust me, there’s—”
Bruce tapped the counter with his mug of coffee. “Tony…” he said in a warning type of tone.
Tony stopped mid-sentence and suddenly grimaced in an oddly apologetic sort of way. “The point was, that I’m going to be in the lab all day, kid, so you should go with Cap, get some fresh air.”
Harry looked distrustfully between Tony and Steve and grimaced as well- not apologetically, though, but more irritably. “I’ll open a window.”
“Harry,” Steve looked entirely too solemn for the current conversation, “if you’re afraid to go with me, you don’t have to. It might be good for you to get out of the tower though.”
Suddenly two sides of Harry’s brain began fighting with one another—
There was the side that was pissed at being told what would ‘be good for him’. Then there was the side that was pissed about the implication that Harry was afraid of someone else.
Even if Steve could kill Harry with a well-aimed blow, it wasn’t as if Harry had given him a reason to think that he was worried about such a thing.
“Brilliant,” Harry grit out through a clenched jaw, “where are we going?”
Steve tried to chat Harry up while he drove, mostly talking about… about stranger danger and feelings… which was incredibly peculiar. Harry was bemused, but ignored him in favor of checking his phone for messages from Sirius.
Sirius sent Harry a bomb, Harry sent back a hand with the middle finger raised. Sirius then sent a sad face, so Harry sent back an innocent little angel.
“You’re bloody joking.” Harry nearly laughed when they pulled up to an animal shelter. He could see the large sign with the kitten photo on it, but he also saw what looked like an entire fleet of vans with various news logos on them, a bounce house, various other carnival like booths, and what seemed to be like nearly a thousand people milling around the large fenced in grounds; all laughing, running, and playing with animals that ran wild.
Harry turned to look at Steve, who was in his full superhero costume, and knew that his surprise and lack of displeasure was surely on complete display. “What’s this?”
Steve smiled beneath his helmet and opened the middle console between their seats. “It’s a fundraiser for the animal shelter. I like animals so I told them I’d show up today.”
“And bring a crowd?” Harry guessed wryly. He eyed the news vans suspiciously. Would anyone recognize the missing boy who lived on the American muggle news?
“Here.” Steve pulled a pair of mirrored dark sunglasses from the console and a black baseball cap. “You look just like your dad, kid. You get seen with Captain America and people are going to draw the connection. He’s not ashamed of you,” Steve added quickly, “it’s just dangerous for people to know and I’m sure he wants to announce it somehow first. Get ahead of the media before it makes you miserable, you know?”
As if Harry were new to the media making him miserable.
Harry accepted the hat and glasses gratefully, but he did narrow his eyes at Steve from behind them. “Tony’s my biological father, not my dad.”
Steve didn’t seem offended, and people spotted the shield strapped to the top of his car, so their conversation ended there.
Harry didn’t want to be enjoying the ‘fresh air’ he had effectively been forced to be out in, but…
But puppies.
Harry was actually in a type of heaven as he stayed away from the large crowds of people and found an entire family of puppies that were eager to pile up on him. Harry had tried to take a video for Sirius, thinking he’d like to see Harry get attacked by a group of over eager puppies, but then one of the puppies licked his phone and caused Harry to let out a loud peal of laughter, so he quickly ended the video.
At one point, Harry even braved the crowds in order to grab some lunch with the cash Tony gave him before he left (it came with strict orders to ‘eat something, skinny’). He quickly retreated back to the side of the field where nobody besides the dogs seemed to be and he settled in for sharing his lunch with the puppies that had taken a shining to him.
“You guys are shameless,” Harry said fondly as he played tug of war with his hat with one of the more spunky pups. This one had a glimmer of mischief in its black eyes as it growled and yanked on Harry’s hat. Harry would have compared it to Padfoot, except this dog was tiny, it’s fur was a mixture of brown and black patches, and didn’t generally look like it could rip Harry’s leg off in one bite.
“I’m calling you Arsehole,” Harry warned the puppy when he finally ripped his hat from its mouth. He winced when he saw the chew marks on the side of it. “If I get in trouble for that, don’t think I’m not blaming you,” he warned the dog.
The dog didn’t look scared at all.
“Arsehole is a cool name, but I usually call that one Joey.”
Harry had been so distracted by the six puppies that were growling and playing and attacking him with their tongues that he didn’t even notice when a guy approached him. Harry put ‘Joey’ down immediately, letting him run off to his siblings, and eyed the guy quickly.
He was young, probably about Harry’s age if not a year or two older. He had an easy smile on his handsome face, shaggy dark brown hair, and had a camera in his hands that instantly made Harry bristle.
“Hey, I’m Peter,” he said. He held a hand out to Harry.
Harry scoffed and ignored his hand. “Arsehole is a better name for him than Joey,” he said, referring to the dog.
Peter laughed and sank down to sit on the ground, instantly finding himself with a lap full of puppies; except for ‘Joey’, who Harry was pleased to see was instead clawing at Harry’s own ankles, trying to reclaim his attention.
“Not the camera, guys,” Peter cried with another laugh as the dogs instantly started trying to steal it from him. He held it up and watched as he dogs began leaping on their tiny legs to try and get it from him. “German Shepherds are geniuses,” he said, to Harry apparently, “but they’re also total dicks. That one there, Joey the Arsehole, is the worst of them.”
As if proving his point, Joey growled at him.
Harry grinned and sat back down, content that Peter wasn’t actually a reporter as he initially thought. “You work here then?” Harry asked as Joey reclaimed Harry’s lap and started trying to snatch the sunglasses right off his face.
“I volunteer sometimes,” Peter shrugged. “I’m supposed to be taking photos of Captain America vaccinating kittens, but you looked more interesting.”
Harry scowled and then glanced toward where the largest group of people were. They were surrounded in and around a tent that he assumed Steve was in. “Vaccinating kittens? They brought a superhero here to give shots?”
Peter laughed again, and Harry got the impression he was rather easy going in general. A bit like Ron, except… except he didn’t quite look like Ron at all.
“Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?” he grinned. “It’s just a publicity stunt. Bring ‘em here to see Captain America, then try and get them to adopt a pet or donate to the shelter.”
Harry didn’t think that sounded stupid at all- it sounded like a clever plan, and he said so.
“Thanks,” Peter smirked a little, “it was mine.”
Harry grinned, “Clever plans, shit naming skills.”
“One guy can’t be great at everything,” Peter said seriously. “You could always adopt Joey, name him what you want. He doesn’t respond to Joey anyway.”
Harry smiled ruefully as he scratched Joey’s ears. “I can’t, I’m, er… I’m not going to be in town long.”
“Going back to England soon?”
Harry head snapped up instantly and Joey whined. “How’d you know where I’m from?”
Peter quirked a brow and smirked, a good look for him really. “The accent gave you away, man.”
“Oh.” Harry shrugged, that made sense. Personally though, he thought everyone else had the odd accents. He averted his eyes and went back to playing with the dog. “Dunno yet, we’ll see.”
“Well if you change your mind, Joey could use a new home.” Peter plucked up one of the puppies and held it beside him while he made big pouting eyes at Harry. “Think of the animals, they need you to stay in New York and adopt them all.”
Harry laughed at his antics and shook his head. “We’ll see,” he said evasively, knowing it was pointless. He’d be leaving soon.
But maybe Sirius would want to adopt a puppy when they got settled somewhere?
The two of them chatted easily, and Harry did eventually tell him his first name, while they played with the litter of puppies. Peter talked about his school, he’d be a junior in the fall. He talked about his classes a little, his ‘side gig’ as a ‘freelance photographer’ and the other animals he helped take care of at the shelter.
Harry talked about nothing- he merely listened.
“Oh, man,” Peter groaned when the first chords of a band struck up. He pet the sleeping puppy in his lap once more and then stood up. “I should probably go take photos, I promised I’d have some for the website about the event.”
“Have fun,” Harry murmured. He spotted Steve at the front of the building, obviously trying to make his way to the car and figured that was his cue as well. He gave Joey a last sad little pat and imagined he was as disappointed that Harry was leaving as Harry was.
“You could always come back and see him,” Peter offered, probably seeing the pathetic goodbye Harry shared with the dog. “Oh! Hold on!”
Harry watched curiously as Peter dug in his jean pockets for a scrap of lined notebook paper. He scribbled something on it quickly then handed it to Harry with a crooked grin.
“My number,” he explained as Harry took the paper and looked at it. “Text me and I’ll send you the pictures I got of you when you weren’t paying attention. And I’ll text you the next time I’m headed here, if you aren’t back in England.”
Harry laughed and pocketed the paper with only a slight blush on his cheeks. “Alright then,” he agreed.
“See you later, Harry,” Peter said with a cheery salute. He turned and ran off toward the tent that the music came from while Harry curiously watched him go.
“Bye, Arsehole,” Harry said with a last scratch to Joey’s head as he trudged off toward the car he arrived in with his head ducked and the ball cap pulled low.
He certainly wasn’t going to admit it, but it had actually been a decent way to spend an afternoon.
They drove past Peter when they left and Harry smirked at him through the window when he stopped his skateboard to gawk at Harry in the passenger seat with ‘Captain America’.
“Friend of yours?” Steve asked when Harry smirked back at Peter and they left him laughing in the rear view mirror.
Harry shrugged and felt his neck heat up as he thought about the number he had tucked in his jeans pocket.